Will at Work Learning: Net Promoter Score — Maybe Fine for Marketing, Stupid for Training

From Will Thalheimer…

More and more training departments are considering the use of the Net Promoter Score as a question–or the central question–on their smile sheets.

This is one of the stupidest ideas yet for smile sheets, but I understand the impetus–traditional smile sheets provide poor information. In this blog post I am going to try and put a finely-honed dagger through the heart of this idea.

via Will at Work Learning: Net Promoter Score — Maybe Fine for Marketing, Stupid for Training.

My take: something done poorly is best not done at all…and that sums up most of my feeling on the use of smiley sheets as the sole measure of “training success”. I recall my days as a MCSE / MCT for a major corporate training provider here in Canada. Microsoft Curriculum demanded a feedback form after every class. We were even supposed to send them to MS Canada, but apparently even they didn’t bother looking at them in detail.  However, woe betide any MCT who didn’t score highly.  As for me? I was less concerned about the numerical scores.  I used to tell my students, “a 5 or 6 out of 7 with some comments about what you feel needs improvement is of much more value to me than a 7 out of 7 with no comments at all.”

As time has gone on, I have fallen further away from Kirkpatrick’s model (Dan Pontefract’s comments on it notwithstanding) and I prefer to use other methods for evaluation. Will is very interested in “mythbusting” in the L&D space and this post is another example of some of the practices that persist in L&D – to our collective detriment.

Millennials: Entitled? Job hoppers? We Think Not

Here is an article from Debbie Landers who is the General Manager, Kenexa & Smarter Workforce at IBM that you should find very interesting as we are seeing an influx of Millenials coming into the workforce. According to the numbers Millenials will make up 50% of the workforce by 2020 so getting a grounded understanding of who they are is definitely important.

A new study by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, Myths, exaggerations and uncomfortable truths, has busted numerous myths typically associated with Millennials at the workplace.

via The Millennials: Entitled? Job hoppers? We Think Not. – The Human Resources Social Network.

My take: While there are a few questionable assumptions in this article (Digital Natives, Generational Learners, etc.) I feel it important that we have sufficient empathy for the diverse nature of our learner community. Needs, wants, motivations, and goals, will be different for all.

Share your thoughts on the myths busted in the study.  Did the study go too far? Or not far enough?

Myths and Facts about Brain Training

Credit to Juan Domingo Farnos for sharing this link via Scoop.It.

While I get the general concepts of brain plasticity, the research jury is basically “out” on the long term benefits of brain training. At best, the results are inconclusive if viewed objectively. Much of the research is considered biased (e.g. Conducted by the vendors offering such products/services) and may not stand up to scientific scrutiny.

This infographic will share a little insight into the claims compared with the facts.

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